Karnataka: Chamarajanagar dist admin makes U-turn on 'no vaccination, no ration' campaign

After receiving criticism, the Chamarajanagar District Administration in Karnataka has taken a U-turn on its 'no vaccination, no ration, no pension' campaign. In a press release, the district administration said that no official order was rolled out in this regard. "Hence, there is no question of not giving ration and pension to people," it added.

The clarification note comes out after MR Ravi, Deputy Commissioner of Chamarajanagar, said that the COVID vaccine was necessary for BPL (Below Poverty Line) cardholders to avail ration.

Earlier, speaking to ANI, Ravi had said that his administration had launched a 'no vaccination, no pension' drive. "To avail ration facility, the BPL and Antyodaya cardholders, around 2.9 lakhs in number, will need to take COVID vaccine compulsorily," he had said.

He also informed about another drive- 'no vaccination, no pension'. "We have around 2.20 lakh pensioners in (Chamarajanagar) district. We have instructed all the banks in this regard. These measures are part of our efforts to vaccinate everyone in the district," Ravi said.

The remarks received sharp criticism from the opposition. Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar called it "unethical" and "unconstitutional".

"In Chamarajanagar, the BJP Govt says it won’t give ration or pension to those not vaccinated. But are there enough vaccines? Have they persuaded people to take vaccines? Such denial of basic food and pension is illegal, unethical, unconstitutional," Shivakumar tweeted. He went on to say that the Chamarajanagar district administration and BJP government have no shame and alleged that they want to punish people for not taking vaccines. "They should first apologise for not arranging oxygen, vaccines, tests, compensation for deaths," the state Congress chief said.

BJP government and Chamarajanagar administration have no shame. Their incompetence resulted in 36 deaths due to lack of oxygen.

They want to punish those who don’t take vaccine, but they should first apologise for not arranging oxygen, vaccines, tests, compensation for deaths.

— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar)

COVID cases in Karnataka

According to the last update by Health Ministry, Karnataka reported 1,217 fresh novel coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours. During the same period, the state also reported 25 and 1,1198 recoveries. With this, the total number of infections in the state stands at 29,49,445, the death toll at 37,318 and total recoveries at 28,93,715.

Currently, the state has 18,386 active cases with a positivity rate of 0.94%. At present, as per the last update on Wednesday morning, 4,34,74,538 samples have been tested in the state, of which, 1,28,657 were done on Tuesday alone.

Image Credit: PTI/ANI